Czech govt sees no constitutional problems with EU treaty: reports

(PRAGUE) - The Czech government has decided the European Union's embattled Lisbon Treaty does not clash with the Czech constitution in an assessment that will be sent to the country's highest court, Czech media reported on Saturday.

The centre-right coalition government of Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek reached that conclusion at a cabinet meeting Friday, the daily Lidove Noviny reported.

At last week's EU summit, the Czech government became the main opponent of moves to proceed quickly with treaty ratification after Irish voters rejected it in a referendum. All 27 EU member states must approve the treaty for it to enter into force.

The newspaper citing the government's conclusions said "that all the provisions of the Lisbon Treaty, as it exists in its present form, as well as the Lisbon Treaty in its entirety, is in accord with the Czech constitutional order."

No basic aspects of the Czech constitutional order would be altered if the treaty came into effect, it added.

Alexandr Vondra, European affairs minister and deputy prime minister confirmed the newspaper report of the government's assessment, the CTK news agency said on Saturday.

Lawmakers from the Czech upper house Senate called in late April for the constitutional court to review the Lisbon Treaty to make sure that it was not in conflict with the country's constitution. The government's conclusion will now be passed onto the court.

Topolanek, the head of a fragile coalition with his own right-wing party, the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) including a strong eurosceptic faction, has frequently underlined Czech problems in proceeding rapidly with treaty ratification following the Irish vote.

In the Czech Republic the treaty will be ratified by a vote in parliament, but the process is effectively at a standstill until the constitutional court's ruling is given.

While a pro-European majority is believed to exist in the 200-seat Czech lower house of parliament, Topolanek's Civic Democrats have a majority in the 81-seat Senate and could seek to block ratification of the Lisbon Treaty there, analysts say.